News

UCSJ Statement of Support for Moscow Helsinki Group

(December 8, 2008)

December 8, 2008
Mrs. Ludmilla Alexeeva
Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group

Dear Ludmilla:

UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, the
Moscow Helsinki Group's (MHG) long-time partner in the struggle for
democracy and human rights in Russia, expresses its strong support for
your refusal to participate in the 3rd Eastern European Regional
Congress of NGOs that took place in Penza, Russia, on December 5-7,
2008. This Congress was run under the aegis of the Council of Europe,
together with the Federation Council's (the upper chamber of the
Russian Parliament) Committee on Developing Institutions of Civil
Society.

We support your decision to leave the organizing committee of this
Congress because its format and the non-transparency of its procedures
did not allow many independent NGOs, including local NGOS in Penza, to
participate. Instead, many government-controlled NGOs (so-called
GONGOs) participated and used the event to disseminate government
propaganda. The way this Congress went forward violated the main
principals of the human rights policy of the Council of Europe, which
prioritizes rule of law, democracy, and fundamental freedoms.
Substantive discussions of human rights problems were substituted by
an imitation of dialogue with the authorities. The key decisions of
the Organizing Committee were developed behind the scenes and adopted
by structures of the Federation Council and Council of Europe without
open discussion. Regretfully, the Department of NGOs of the Council of
Europe submitted to the new rules that were proposed to them by
Russian officials and the GONGOs they control, rather than insisting
on running the Congress under its initially approved rules.

Finally, UCSJ shares your indignation at the campaign being waged
against MHG and other truly independent human rights NGOs in the
Russian media. We are confident that the MHG will overcome all these
difficulties as it has many times in its history.